Steven Carr

Was Saul a common name for Jews in the first century AD?

Toto

You would think that it might be, since it was the name of an early King. But Josephus only seems to know of one Saul.

Was David a common name?

Steven Carr

No, David was not a common name.

Does Josephus know any Saul other than King Saul?

Edited to add, yes he does

Toto

Josephus mentions one Saul besides King Saul. Robert Eisenmann tried to identify this Saul, who was hotheaded, with the Saul of Acts who was also known as Paul (in spite of the common belief that Saul changed his name to Paul).

The Hebrew Saul is equated to the Aramaic Silas and the Latin Silvanus. Paul in his letters speaks of a Silas as a cowriter or companion. I have wondered if the Saul/Paul of Acts was a conflated character, based on Paul and Silas.

There is also a Gnostic Silvanus who might fit into the puzzle.

prior thread on what was Paul's name

cajela

While idly questioning on names, was Judas actually a more common name, that's just transliterated specially for the villian? Possibly something like Judah, though isn't that a country's name?

And are Jesus and Joshua really the same name? Why do people sometims say Yeshua?

The Evil One

"And are Jesus and Joshua really the same name?"

Yes. Jesus is an English borrowing of the Latin version of the name, and Joshua is an English borrowing of the Hebrew version of the name.

PhilosopherJay

The letter "J" was a late development, not added to the alphabet until about 400 years old.


from (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2451890)
In Rome, I represented both the vowel i and the consonantal y sound at the start of the English word yellow. Gradually over the centuries, the consonant was changed: in Spain it became an h, in Germany it remained a y, in France it became a j sound. When the Normans invaded England in 1066, they brought the j sound with them, but continued to spell it with the letter I, which could be written I or J depending on which looked good.

In about the 15th Century, people started to fix on the I for the vowel and the J for the consonant, but this was not fully accepted until the mid 17th Century.

Greek, did not have the "J" sound, so the name would have been written with
a iota (ι) and pronounced as a y (yesous)

Jesus and Joshua are the same name and given the enormous love and respect that Jews had for the Old Testament character of the Christ (annointed one) Joshua who conquered Israel for them, it is reasonable that the New Testament character Joshua(Jesus) Christ was derived from the Old Testament character. It is similar to the way that certain popular comic-book characters like "Captain America," "Flash" and "Green Lantern" which originated in the 1940's were re-created in the late 1950's and 1960's with new identities, but the same brand name.

Warmly,

Philosopher Jay

cajela

Thanks, guys. Any word on the Judas question?